Tuk, Tuk, Tuk…
There was a light sound like blunt nails knocking on wood.
Dean got out of his soft-light arms and thighs and walked outside the tree house to take a look. Among the green trees that exuded the faint fragrance of green leaves, a colorful woodpecker was hard at work pecking at the oak tree.
In front of the ten-meter-high tree house, the breeze and morning light hit the face like a lover's whisper, making people feel relaxed physically and mentally.
Different from having no thoughts in meditation, at this time a faint joy rises in my heart as if my life has been sublimated.
Gretchen, wrapped in sheets, clung to his back, hugged his chest, and rested her head on his shoulder. Her delicate skin was white and rosy in the morning light, exuding a healthy luster.
"I seem to have taken a bath in a hot spring. What exactly did you do to me last night?"
"You overworked yourself during physical training at the police academy. Over time, you have left some hidden injuries in your muscles and bones. If you don't pay attention, these hidden injuries will damage your health in the long run." Dean turned around and smiled, "So I'm helping you. I got a massage and some treatment.”
"You know how to massage?" Gretchen was even more surprised. "How come I didn't know about this in Las Vegas before?"
"I just learned massage techniques from a blind oriental masseur in Hawkins not long ago," Dean said with a smile. In fact, he used life energy to warm and comb Gretchen's body from the inside out. , causing her life strength to stabilize.
"Will you give me a massage every day from now on? I'll pay you."
"Then I want to advance a whole year's salary in advance."
"Uh...giggle, don't scratch!"
The two played around on the wooden bed for a while, dressed in couple's sportswear, left the wooden house and quickly returned to Bourbon Street.
After the madness of Halloween, there are still some lingering people on the street who are still lingering: the red-haired alien who was drunk in vomit and kissed a mouse, who took too many stimulant drugs and ran around in the street in a daze. people…
The two came to No. 256 Bourbon Street, in front of a Creole-style cottage with a green wooden door.
"Bang, bang... Faraj, it's me, Gretchen."
"Click..."
A beautiful face appeared behind the door, and his big eyes glanced at the two of them, especially staying on Dean's face for a few seconds, with a playful smile on his lips.
"My good sister, it is this handsome guy who makes you obsessed with him, so crazy that you abandon your best friend on Halloween night and leave me alone to guard the empty room."
"Why are you staying alone in an empty room? Your mouth smells like alcohol. Were you crazy when you went out last night?" Gretchen slapped her nose and pushed her male companion out. "This is Dean, my high school classmate and boyfriend. Private detective.”
"Hello, I am Farage, the daughter of the owner of this shopping mall and a future LVPD police officer. Maybe we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future." The black girl revealed her body from behind the door. She was wearing a black tight vest and jeans. Long legs, slender waist and strong chest.
Although she has dark skin, she does not have the wide flat nose, overly full lips and curly black hair that are more common among black people. She has soft facial lines and short black hair. She is a mixed-race Creole.
Dean shook hands with her and followed her into the store.
The house is decorated in a very peculiar style.
There are wooden floors with natural patterns, display walls and glass cabinets, and the walls are covered with colorful animal fur scarves and tapestries.
The products in the cabinet include rags, straw hats, leather boots and loose shirts, eye masks, iron hook prosthetics, as well as monkey skulls, antelope skulls, small bottles filled with turbid unknown liquid, gourds stuffed with dried seeds and hanging beads, etc. Weird things.
The Caribbean Sea and the African savanna seem to intersect here...
In a bird cage not far from the door, a red parrot shouted in English with a strong New Orleans accent, "Welcome to the Voodoo Emporium."
Dean had a vague impression of the term in his mind, "What is Voodoo?"
"Voodoo is the foundation of our Haitian culture, the source of music and festivals, the master of mystery and souls. It includes ancestor worship, animism, and spiritualism..." Farage said with reverence, "Believe in it, It will bring you good luck."
Dean nodded noncommittally, and picked up a palm-sized little man made of jute cloth from the side of the birdcage, which was both naive and evil.
"This is a voodoo doll..." Faraj explained with a smile, "You can use it to curse your enemies, pray for success, health and luck, protect yourself from evil, and of course, it can also attract love -"
The black girl immediately performed a piece of music with great emotion:
"I see love, I hope for love, I hold love in the palm of my hand and cross the sea and the earth."
After reciting the spell, she generously placed the voodoo doll and a glass bottle in the palms of Dean and Gretchen.
"Take it, and wish you two eternal love."
"Bless me for accepting it..." Gretchen held the doll tightly in her arms.
Dean opened the small glass bottle and smelled it curiously, and a strange aroma came to his face, "What's in here?"
"Love potion... Make it by grinding dried chameleon into powder and adding some Chanel No. 5 perfume. Spray it on yourself and you will charm your sweetheart."
watt?
Dean smiled and shook his head, it was all a mess.
He didn't feel the slightest bit of mystery in this so-called voodoo shop. It was all just to bluff people.
"Enough chatter..." Gretchen looked eager to pick up a leaflet with a bloody zombie from the counter, "When are you going to show us how to hunt ghosts at night?"
"Wait a minute, Zumbi went outside to pick up the scheduled guests... He will drive us to a remote suburb when he comes back later."
"Where exactly?"
Faraj handed the two hot coffee and desserts, "Honey Island Swamp."
…
"Ahaha, at this point, there will be no more devils causing trouble at night. Let's put on a good show, my friends." A manly voice full of magnetism came from outside the door.
As soon as Dean turned his head, he saw a tall black man walking into the store. He wore a purple cloak, a magic hat decorated with red flowers, a red vest, black suit pants, and an exaggerated white eyeshadow on his left eye. He was dressed coquettishly and elegantly. Eye-catching.
"Welcome to Zumbi's Voodoo Shack...Faraj, come and receive your distinguished guest."
A group of tourists filed in behind the cloaked black man, including an old couple, three young people wearing punk-style leather jackets, an old father and a pair of siblings.
The siblings Dean and Gretchen met last night.
"Wait a minute, are you Miss Witch and Mr. White Wolf from last night?" The girl with smooth brown hair came up to Gretchen in surprise and took Gretchen's hand. The corners of her mouth were slightly exposed, and her sweet smile instantly illuminated the entire scene. cabin,
"What a coincidence, Katie, Scott...are you going to hunt ghosts too?" Gretchen stroked the girl's hair, and then looked at the boy behind her. He covered his panda eyes with sunglasses and was still wearing tight yellow sportswear. He was convinced and was waving to the two of them.
“I happened to be passing through New Orleans and it’s Halloween, so I’m going to have a great time!” Katie said with a smile.
"When did you meet new friends?" A tall man wearing a cowboy hat came over and hugged the two siblings. He had medium-long hair, deep nasolabial folds, an unshaven beard, and a majestic face. His upper muscles and skin were loose, but his brows were always frowning. Even when he smiled at the two of them, his smile was full of thoughts and sorrow.
"Yes, they helped last night..." Katie paused,
"We took a photo together last night," Scott quickly interrupted his sister and introduced the two of them, "This is our dad, Jacob."
Dean and Gretchen smiled at each other, stretched out their hands to shake the man's hand,
"Dean, my girlfriend Gretchen."
"I'm sorry, these two high school students didn't cause you any trouble, did they? Every time I don't pay attention, they will cause trouble, without exception." Jacob said helplessly,
"No, they are very sensible and well-behaved." Dean winked at Scott.
"Scott is obviously the one causing trouble!" Katie put her hands on her hips and glared at her brother, "I'll wipe his ass!"
"Those bastards couldn't get used to my face, and when they provoked me, I just fought back in self-defense!" Scott tilted his neck and smiled disdainfully, "Besides, am I kneeling on the ground to beg you?"
"Everyone, look here, it's time to pay the 40 yuan ticket per person." The black man in a cloak standing in the center of the store clapped his hands twice to attract everyone's attention.
"Mr. Zumby, are there any dangers in the Honey Island swamp?" A stout, white-haired old man with a broom mustache under his nose asked in the crowd, "Venomous snakes, zombies?"
Danger?
The black man grinned, showing teeth whiter than plaster, and glanced at his daughter and assistant, Faraj, who instantly handed him a black rose.
"I am the most amazing tour guide, the most interesting soul, and the greatest voodoo wizard on this street! I have been doing this for more than ten years and I have never encountered any accidents. The gold-lettered signs are shining brighter than my teeth. .”
The black man took the rose button and closed it in his palm. His fingers closed and separated like lightning, and the rose disappeared without a trace.
Then he walked up to the old man, dug into his pocket, pulled out a delicate rose, and inserted it into the chest of his wife.
"Here you go, my beautiful lady. I hope it will dispel your doubts."
The little magic trick made the two siblings applaud wildly, and several tourists present couldn't help but cheer, and their worries disappeared.
…
"You are Faraj's friends, so the ticket price is free." The black man finally whispered to Dean and Gretchen, then looked at his daughter who was entertaining the guests, "Get the mosquito repellent and the stove ready."
"Already ready." The black girl made an OK gesture.
Zumbi then looked at the Asian boy who was rummaging through the display cabinet, "Young man, don't touch it. It's a bracelet made of an elephant's tail. When you wear it, you will be blessed by the elephant's soul. You are too thin." Can not bear."
"Who are you looking down on?" Scott stubbornly put the bracelet on his wrist, "I bought it."
"Chenghui 30 dollars." Zumbi smiled brightly with a dark face.
"It's too expensive, it's a money grab!" Katie said,
"It doesn't matter, I'll spend my pocket money!" Scott handed over the money without hesitation.
…
At noon, after lunch.
A group of 12 people got on a small yellow school bus outside the voodoo shop.
Zumby started the car and drove along the nostalgic roads in downtown New Orleans toward the suburbs.
Gretchen and Katie liked each other very well, so they sat together on the left side of the last row and chatted about dressing up and accessories. Dean was forced to sit on the right side with Scott.
Jacob and the old couple sat in the center, reminiscing about their youth together.
The three punk young men in the front, wearing black leather jackets and leather trousers, and wearing earrings and nose rings, were playing with a Polaroid 600 camera and listening to Farage's talk about the history and customs of New Orleans.
"Man, how did you get such a beautiful girlfriend as Ms. Gretchen?" Scott asked Dean curiously while chewing the bubbles. "In our grade, there is no precedent for picking up a white girl from an Asian. . Do you have the ability to make money?"
"I don't have much money, but I have the ability to shoot live ammunition. You can do it if you train your body well." Dean bent his right hand, and the biceps under his sleeve suddenly bulged exaggeratedly like a mountain peak, and Scott opened his mouth wide. mouth, and puffed up his arms without any fluctuations, with a dejected look on his face,
"Come to your senses! I don't mean anything else. How did you and Katie become siblings?"
Scott thought for a few seconds and whispered, "Ten years ago, my biological parents died in an accident. Later, Pastor Jacob of our parish adopted me. Jacob was very good to me. He is mine." A second father.”
A white pastor adopting an Asian?
Dean suddenly realized, no wonder they have no similarity at all between siblings, "Sorry..."
Scott laughed to himself, "It doesn't matter. I've long been used to it. Basically, normal people can't help but ask me and my sister when they see it."
Dean looked at the pastor in the front row who was listening carefully to the couple reminiscing about their youth, "Jacob is really a pastor? I thought he was a cowboy from Texas."
"He didn't dress like this before. He always wore a very serious black chasuble from head to toe, seven days a week, from morning to night. Then something happened... He bought a RV and rented it for us at school. After a long vacation, the family embarked on a road trip, which is ridiculous to say, and he didn’t even tell us where the trip would end.”
"Is it because of an accident that Jacob has changed so much?"
Scott lowered his head and remained silent, and his sunglasses could not hide the sadness on his face.
"Okay, let's change the topic to a lighter topic," Dean put his hands on the back of his head and crossed his legs, "Do you like Bruce Lee very much?"
"Of course, he is the pride of us Chinese people," Scott said with admiration, sweeping his nose with his thumb, showing a ferocious look in his eyes, and making a sound of "Ada" in his mouth, "and I have a lot of fate with him, My ancestry is all GD.”
"Pretty boy?" Dean said in pure and fluent Chinese.
Scott suddenly smiled in surprise, "Are you not Korean?"
"No, I have Chinese blood."
"Then we can be considered 'fellows' to a certain extent. You are not much older than me. Good buddy, can you teach me how to pick up girls?" Scott looked at Dean with an increasingly affectionate look, "I like a guy in school. I’ve been with a girl for a long time, but I feel like she doesn’t call me.”
"Sorry, I don't know how to pick up girls. They usually send it to them themselves."
"..."
…
The car left the urban area of New Orleans and drove toward the suburbs at high speed along the narrow road. The future policewoman Farage used excellent explanations to kill the boring rush.
Until late in the evening, twilight begins to close.
Zumby slowed down the car, and Dean looked through the car window. In the dark night sky, a row of willow trees appeared on the side of the road. Clusters of silver willow branches were suspended beside a wooden pier protruding from the lake shore.
There was a small white cruise ship with colored lights parked there, and the lake next to the ship was filled with gray mist, squirming like a blanket.
"Everyone arrived safely, get out of the car and start our journey around the lake!" Zumbi opened the car door, and the three punk men and women in the front row couldn't wait to rush to the pier. The red-haired young man raised his camera, and the two punks The punk girl with a nose ring faced the direction of him and the car, and lifted up her top boldly.
Click——
"God!" The old man was dazzled by the white flowers. His beard trembled and he almost had a heart attack while stroking his chest. The old lady quickly slapped him on the back.
Scott stared straight at it, swallowed his saliva and kept mumbling,
"B, C? C, D?"
"Put on your clothes quickly, be careful of catching a cold if it gets cold at night!" Zumbi laughed and asked Faraj to carry a handbag. Then he ordered everyone to get into the white boat at the pier. Dean and his girlfriend cuddled up against each other. At the stern, enjoy the view of the lake at night.
The moonlight hid in the dark clouds, and under the cover of night, the lake became deep and mysterious. There was a gentle breeze, and ripples appeared on the lake surface, as if a devil was flying in the mist.
Flying towards a dark honey island in the distance.
"Next, we will take a boat around the lake, and then enter the uninhabited Honey Island in the center to spend the night." With the roar of the engine, Zumby drove the boat towards the center of the lake.
"Wait a minute, it's only night time now, where's the ghost hunting?" the red-haired punk man asked, "The most important project is gone, so at least half of the ticket price will be refunded."
"Don't worry, boy, before you catch the monsters, you have to summon them first. We are going to hold a ceremony soon, right on the ship." Zumbi put the handbag on the table in the center of the ship, unzipped it, and took out a After lighting the incense burner, he handed it to Faraj, and he took out a soft-bristled brush. Then the two father and goddesses waved the soft-bristled brush and the incense burner to everyone, shaking it up and down and left and right.
Amidst the curls of white smoke, everyone's eyes were confused.
Dean seemed to have seen a crappy dance performance. But he also smelled the smell of verbena from the incense burner, which could ward off evil spirits. The voodoo father and daughter were not completely fooling around.
"What is this for?" Gretchen looked at her friend,
Faraj said seriously, "Before the summoning ceremony, the evil spirits on the ship must be driven away and the air purified to facilitate communication with the sacred Lowa."
Pastor Jacob took out the cross from his clothes, held the children's hands, and looked at the black man's movements with a solemn face, as if he was ready to witness a miracle outside God's jurisdiction, "Who is Lowa?"
Farage explains, "Our gods, the spirits of our ancestors, each perform their duties and control the entire world, giving us the power of charm and summons."
Scott asked excitedly, "What are we summoning to Lowa?"
"A harmless mysterious creature, called a resurrected corpse in our voodoo sect. Its body is cold, it can move, and it can eat. It obeys the summoner's orders to farm and clean, but it has no memory and does not know where it is. environment. After the summoning is successful, it will wake up from its slumber, go to the room on the island, tidy up the room for us, make the bed, and prepare a steaming dinner for us to enjoy directly when we arrive."
"Isn't this just a housework robot?" Katie muttered, holding her small chin, always feeling that something was wrong.
Then I saw Zumbi taking out the black-skinned statue of Lowa, which was covered with beautiful gauze and was the size of a fist, representing the gods, candles, paper covered with strange spells, and flowers, which represented the sacrifices. Dried meat, tobacco…
"Wait a minute, are you sure it's safe to do this and you're not seeking death stupidly?" Dean looked at Zumbi seriously, "This is on a ship. If something happens, you won't be able to escape."
"I can't swim!" the two punk girls who had previously exposed their breasts said nervously,
The old couple also hugged each other closely, with expressions of excitement and apprehension.
"I am the most powerful wizard so far. I have never failed. I will keep you safe... If you are really worried, buy some amulets. With them, you will be foolproof." Zumbi took out a few items from his backpack. Amulets made from feathers and animal hair threads.
To be on the safe side, everyone donated generously, including the old pastor Jacob.
Gretchen was about to dig into her pocket when Farage, who was lighting candles, quietly came to her ear and said, "Don't buy it. My dad is just an ordinary person. He can't summon anything without magic power. It didn't work a dozen times before. There is someone in the room on the island." In the decoration. Guests need excitement, so we sell them just the right amount of excitement, fair trade."
Gretchen raised her eyebrows, pointed to her friend's nose, and said in a low voice, "Sooner or later, I'll catch you two liars in jail."
Dean shook his head and smiled after hearing this.
Specializing in scaring people on a boat that is not touching the ground. Isn't this a fairy dance?
…
"Quiet! The ceremony begins!"
Zumbi shouted, waved the incense burner in his hand, and sang a prayer with a strong rhythm in obscure Creole.
Farage played the tambourine.
Along with the sound of drums, Zumbi shrugged his shoulders, waist, and back like a cramp, and walked around the holy statues and sacrifices with a squeaking sound. From time to time, he would prostrate on the ground as if to worship the central statue.
The white candle on the table was flickering, reflecting Zumbi's black and white horse face.
His reflection rose and shrank in the lake water.
His eerie cry floated out of the boat, across the lake, and into the dark islands.
A gust of night wind blew, and everyone on the boat seemed to feel some subtle changes in the air. They couldn't help shrinking their shoulders, holding the amulet tightly and leaning against their companions.
Dean hugged Gretchen's warm body, looked around, and at the same time opened the God's perspective.
There are no mysterious fluctuations.
The lake was dark and calm.
(End of chapter)
